Milligan, TN – The UC volleyball team recorded a pair of 3-0 wins over Asbury and Bryan on the first day of the Milligan Mountain Madness Tournament Friday night.  The Patriots defeated the Eagles 25-21, 25-20, 25-12, before posting a 26-24, 25-13, 25-18 win over the Lions.  With the sweeps UC improves to 4-3 on the season.

In the first set against Asbury, Cumberlands used a 4-0 run, which included a trio of assists from Lynsey Short, to jump out to a 7-4 lead.  Asbury battled back with the set seeing eight ties, before the Patriots scored four unanswered points to take a 21-18 lead.  UC got kills from Ashley Sobocinski, Megan Jackson, and Lily Chapman to close out the set 25-21.

The Eagles jumped out 6-3 lead in the second set, however the Patriots scored five straight points, include three Chapman kills, to take an 8-6 advantage.  After trading points Asbury used a 3-0 run to retake the lead 14-13. From that point a Sobocinski kill sparked an 8-0 run to put UC ahead 21-14.  Asbury cut the lead to three, but that was the closest it got as the Patriots got a pair of kills from Chapman to take the set 25-20 and take a 2-0 lead.

Cumberlands carried the momentum into the third set and take a quick 9-3 lead.  UC used runs 3-0 and 8-0 en route to winning the set (25-12) and the match (3-0).

Leading the way for the Patriots was Jackson, who tallied a season-high 13 kills, while added three digs and two blocks.  Short fished out 34 assists and five digs, while Chapman chipped in ten kills.  Tara Routliffe continues to shine defensively finishing with 27 digs and Sobocinski recorded 13 digs and nine kills.

The Patriots strong play continued into their second match with UC jumping out to a 7-3 lead over Bryan in the first set.  UC used five 2-0 runs to take a 21-15 lead, before Bryan responded scoring nine of the next 11 points to take a 24-23 lead.  Mackenzie Koch notched three straight kills to cap a Patriot rally and give UC the set 26-24.

In the second set UC took advantage of the Lions errors to jump out to a 7-1 lead.  Bryan cut the lead to 10-6 before the Patriots went on a 4-1 run to extend their lead to 14-7.  Cumberlands went on to score seven of the final nine points in the set, including a pair of kills by Chapman, to win the set 25-13.

UC never trailed in the third set, which saw one tie at 3-3. From that point, the Patriots scored five unanswered points and used three three-point rallies to win the set 25-18 and take the match 3-0.

???????Sobocinski led the way with 11 kills, while Jackson and Chapman finished with eight apiece.  Routliffe added 16 digs and Short tallied 29 assists, and four kills. 

The two wins today's marks UC's first two sweeps of the season.

The Patriots will return to action Saturday, September 1, when they compete in day two of the Milligan Mountain Madness Tournament.  UC will face the University of Saint Francis at 11 a.m., before taking on Milligan College at 3 p.m. Live stats for the tournament will be available here.

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